Mike Tyson Explores Kierkegaard

The former heavyweight champ considers philosophy and love.

By

Mike Tyson

Dec. 13, 2013 6:15 p.m. ET

ENLARGE

Mike Tyson
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

I'm currently reading "The Quotable Kierkegaard," edited by Gordon Marino, a collection of awesome quotes from that great Danish philosopher. (He wanted his epitaph to read: "In yet a little while / I shall have won; / Then the whole fight / Will all at once be done.") I love reading philosophy. Most philosophers are so politically incorrect—challenging the status quo, even challenging God. Nietzsche's my favorite. He's just insane. You have to have an IQ of at least 300 to truly understand him. Apart from philosophy, I'm always reading about history. Someone very wise once said the past is just the present in funny clothes. I read everything about Alexander, so I downloaded "Alexander the Great: The Macedonian Who Conquered the World" by Sean Patrick. Everyone thinks Alexander was this giant, but he was really a runt. "I would rather live a short life of glory than a long one of obscurity," he said. I so related to that, coming from Brownsville, Brooklyn.

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What did I have to look forward to—going in and out of prison, maybe getting shot and killed, or just a life of scuffling around like a common thief? Alexander, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, even a cold pimp like Iceberg Slim—they were all mama's boys. That's why Alexander kept pushing forward. He didn't want to have to go home and be dominated by his mother. In general, I'm a sucker for collections of letters. You think you've got deep feelings? Read Napoleon's love letters to Josephine. It'll make you think that love is a form of insanity. Or read Virginia Woolf's last letter to her husband before she loaded her coat up with stones and drowned herself in a river. I don't really do any light reading, just deep, deep stuff. I'm not a light kind of guy.

From the first interview I heard with Mike Tyson two decades ago, I have been trying to convince friends that there is a rare and unique intellect hidden behind that frightening exterior, and questionable grammar. He is so free and open in interviews, and with such a unique and logical (though often "inappropriate") perspective on issues. Glad the punches to the head haven't slowed him down much...though I guess he was doing a lot more giving than receiving.

Boxers are incredible athletes, athletes = a sport. That aside, my own love for boxing came from sitting and watching the fights, MC'd by Howard Cosell as a kid next to my Dad. Most of what the world loves in any sport started out as a bonding experience with an adult or siblings when they were a child. It's just more than the "game".

Just an observation.........Tyson must believe that he is the one of those with an IQ>300 since that is his assumed criteria for understanding Nietzsche.

Philosophy when broken down means........ Philo (Love of) sophy (wisdom) which in this case is MAN's own wisdom. Man has not been proven many times NOT to be as smart as he thinks he is throughout our short history.

Iron Mike. you are quite remarkable, and you have taken us all by surprise! When I think of Tyson, I think of the face tats, I think of the arrests resulting from women who just want his money, I think of Holyfield and Muhammad Ali----but I would never think of him with Kirkegaard or Netzche!!

People can truly surprise you. I hope he gets a chance to share this love and excitement of learning with the next generations (forget this generation, it's gone!). That was a great quote that he noted: "History is just the present with funny clothes." It's too bad that more people don't learn from history---and from really interesting people like Mike.

"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it."

Come on,this is a great piece .It's hilarious and moving,too.I have to admit,his involvement in The Hangover franchise has won me to his side,though,I kind of enjoyed OJ in the Naked Gun series until he went berserk...Word up,Iron Mike-"OJ-no way" needs to be your motto...

I wonder with whom he discusses his findings? I recall back in the 80s seeing Mike breezing around downtown Albany in a white Roll Royce Corniche with the top down and several bros in there with him and I'll bet they weren't talking Kierkegaard...

Reading between the lines here tells me that Mike is a seeker as opposed to an intellectual. Most intellectuals don't find the prize because, at bottom, they are aiming for a form of self-actualization. True seekers welcome humility. Christ said: 'Seek and ye shall find'. My two cents: Try C. S. Lewis.

I think the Harvard Law School will whiteball his appointment to a chair in the Arts & Sciences philosophy department. The debate will be difficult, though, because Mike is an obvious minoritiy and Harvard prizes its minority professors. Ask Elizabeth Warren about that.

I'd like to see the original draft of this piece before Tyson's handler got hold of it. I think the entire point of this exercise is to trumpet to whites: "See? Blacks are just like the rest of us! Isn't he fabulous?"

Probably a far better choice than many of the bureaucrats we've seen, and certainly an outstanding inspiration for many who need such hope and inspiration the most; but while stated policy is one thing, implementation is quite another.

Just because Mike Tyson was a one time thugs and speaks with a lisp doesn't mean he's stupid or illiterate. From his recent interviews, it's obvious that he's learned from his experiences. So If anyone sounds simplistic, it's you.

Same here. I'm currently on a World War II Binge. Everytime I return a book from the library (best deal on the planet btw), I unintentionally pick up another that's on display. I'm currently reading "The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II" by Denise Kiernan. It's a good read, and a lot more uplifting than my last read..."Hitler's Furies". That book literally gave me nightmares. Tried to read the "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", but it kept putting me to sleep. I do intend to pick it up again though.

I think / hope that Mike's been through enough to have gained some wisdom. He earned millions, then lost it all, and hopefully now is at peace with himself and his life and came out a better man for his experiences.

I actually think it was less than charitable - to Mr. Tyson - for WSJ's editors to print this. Really, what was the point?

"Hey, I'm a smart and deep guy" isn't something a smart and deep person says out loud, much less writes for public record. Were the editors trying to embarrass him?

Wisdom is not displayed in dropping the names of philosophers you just discovered. Admitting one's errors, and not denying them, is something a "deep," humble and wise person does. Mr. Tyson still owes this to his victims, and his newly adoring public.

Herbert, I was thinking the same thing. I give kudos to MT for his interest in developing his perspective as far as it goes. I also give him (or his team) kudos for orchestrating a media comeback and making an honest living. But......

If you listen to him field a complex or semi-complex question, you find him often unsure of its meaning or how to respond. He quickly moves, showing some media training, to a more secure subject terrain by bridging off of any word or set of words he understood. The result is often a bit confusing.

Further, he usually responds to questions concerning the "heavy material" he reads with street language like "oh yeah, that Kierkegaard, he's a bad dude" or something similar. You never hear him string a series of sentences together to capture the essence of a thought-leaders writing.

Now, it is entirely plausible that he comprehends and processes far more than he can articulate. But, to read this article and compare it to his oral ability to communicate deeper thoughts leaves one with an understandable mountain of doubt concerning the authenticity of his contribution in the WSJ.

I wish nothing but the best for MT, but I greatly dislike deceit. I don't think MT is primarily guilty of this deceit but his handlers are. It shows that he has moved from questionable handlers in the ring to questionable handlers in the ink.

GG

Mike, keep at it and eventually you will reach your goal if this is it. It is just to soon and you have much to absorb and process.

"Just because Mike Tyson was a one time thugs and speaks with a lisp doesn't mean he's stupid or illiterate. "

It doesn't mean he IS literate, either. The fact that he couldn't even finish high-school, on the other hand, it's a pretty good sign he might be illiterate.

Look, it's long been accepted in Homo Sapiens societies that blowing your own horn it's not much of a way to get people to accept your claims. For which reason, education has been invented. Like, for example, getting a high-school diploma. Which ..., again, Tyson didn't. So, his claims of high-level literacy can only get a reaction from the leftist black idolatry propaganda machine. The rest of us ...could only give a well-deserved s$$t about his pomposity.

This is not really about Tyson, and the liberal trolls lining up to ki$$ his a$$ know that very well.

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